Sewer cleaning ball



Patented F eb. 9, 1954 UNITED S TAT es A-FENT ormes a;sss,3o7 CLEANINILSidney D. Preen, Long Beach, Calif.

Application May 19, 1947, Serial No. 748,899

2 Claims. (Cl. 15104.06)

This invention relates to a. sewer cleaning hall of an inflatable typewhich is adapted to be moved through the bore of a sewer pipe, or a likeconduit, for the purpose of cleaning the same.

An object of my invention is to provide an infiatable sewer eleaninghall which is formed With external spiral ribs for the purpose ofefiectively cleaning the pipe, and also to cause rotation of the ball asit is moving through the pipe.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel sewer cleaningbail which is infiatable, and which may partiaily collapse or distortunder pressure, thus permitting water to bypass the ball.

A feature of my invention is to provide a novel sewer cleaning hallwhich is formed of a flexible material such as rubber or plastic, andwhich can be infiated through a valve, and the ball being formed Withintegral ears to which a control line is attached for the purpose ofcontrolling the ball as it moves through the pipe.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention may appear from theaccompanying drawing, the subjoined detailed description and theappended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my cleaning ball.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral l indicates ahall formed of rubber or plastic, the walls of which are relativelythick, and are thus impervious to air, and no inner tube or bladder isnecessary to retain air within the ball. A valve 2 of the usual and wellknown design is provided in the front of the ball l so that the ball maybe infiated to the desired pressure.

A plurality of spiral ribs 3 are provided on the periphery of the balland these ribs project slightly above the outer surface of the ball, andact as a scraping element to contact the inner surface of the pipe to becleaned, thus providing an effective means to remove all foreignsubstances from the inner surface of the pipe. A pair of ears 45 areintegrally formed on the ball I and these ears are each provided With ahole 6, through which a control line is attached, in order to controlthe ball as it moves through the pipe. The ears 4 and 5 arediametrically arranged on the ball so that a control line can beattached to either side thereof. When the water pressure against thehall 1 becomes great enough, the ball will partially collapse, ordistort, permitting water to by-pass the ball and jet against anymaterial in the pipe. This distortion of the ball will oc- 2 cur if theload of material ahead of the ball becomes great enough and the partialcollapsing or distortion of the ball will prevent the ball from becomingstuck in the pipe.

In operation, the ball is inserted into a length of pipe through amanhole, and the control line attached to the ball is pulled up throughthe manhole and is controlled by the workman, to control the movement ofthe ball through the pipe. A head of water will build up in the manhole,thus oausing a pressure to be exerted on the back of the ball, and whenthis pressure becomes great enough to overcome the pressure of the airin the ball, it will then partially collapse, and in so doing, will forman orifice through which the water under pressure will jet. This waterwill then tend to wash the material away ahead of the ball, therebyefiectively cleaningthe pipe of sand, sludge, dirt and other material.The ribs on the periphery of the ball will act to scrape the innersurface of the pipe, thus removing slimes and other bacteria carryingmaterials. In this connection it should be noted that water jettingalong the ribs where an outer central zone 01: the ball faces a closelysurrounding pipe bore causes rotation of the ball because of the spiralarrangement of the ribs, and such rotation scrubs the ribs mechanicallyagainst the adjacent pipe bore to supplement the cleaning action of therelatively high velocity water escaping past the ribs. If an obstructionin the pipe is difficult to remove, the ball can be pulled back b theworkman and then released, and the head of water will drive the ballagainst the obstruction, thus tending to loosen or break it away so thatit can be removed.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A hall for cleaning adherent slime and other clogging material out ofa pipe, comprising a generally spherical hall, means for attaching acontrol line to one side of the ball, and spaced ribs extending spirallyalong that outer central zone of the ball which is engageable With aclosefitting pipe bore when said attachment means is centered on thecentral axis of the bore, said hall being effective to release fiuidbetween its ribbed zone and closely surrounding pipe bore for cleaningthe bore when the ball is held by a, line to said attachment meansagainst fiuid under pressure on said one side of the ball.

2. A hall for cleaning adherent slime and other clogging material out ofa pipe, comprising a 1101- low, generally spherical, flexible hall, avalve in the ball for inflating it, an ear integrally formed on the ballfor attaching a control line to the bal], and spaced ribs integral withthe ball and extending spirafly along that outer central zone of theball which is engageable with a. close-fitting pipe bore when sad ear ispositioned at the central axis of the bore, said bal] being efiective torelease fluid between its ribbed zone and a close1y surrounding pipebore for cleaning the bore, said fluid a1so acting on the ribs to rotatethe ball and thereby scrub the ribs against the bore, when the ball ishe1d by a line to said ear against fiuid under pressure on said une sideof the ball.

SIDNEY D. PREEN.

4 References Cited in the file. 01 this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber 5 335,608 646,545 1,634,094 2,058,825 2,258,174 10 2,539,354

Number Name Date Messer Feb. 9, 1886 Novotny Apr. 3, 1900 Cook et alJune 28, 1927 Ballet et al Oct. 27, 1936 Chawner Oct. 7, 1941 MinyardJan. 23, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Norway Nov. 7, 1932

